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(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020729/DAVITALOGO)
As part of DaVita's focus on fistula management, DaVita held a contest tocreate awareness for the benefits of arteriovenous (AV) fistula as the optimalaccess for dialysis. DaVita today announced four winners of the VascularAccess teams' contest, "Got access? How long?" DaVita patients Anthony Logan,Barbara Raymond, John Horath and John Hart have each had a working fistulasince 1972.
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DaVita is committed to educating patients and encouraging them to getfistulas. "We would like to see every patient who is able to have a fistula,get one," says Kent Thiry, DaVita's CEO.
DaVita, along with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other kidney and hemodialysisexperts, consider the fistula the "gold standard" access choice. Researchstudies have demonstrated that patients with a fistula have the fewestcomplications, such as infection or clotting, compared to all other accesschoices.
In addition to having fewer complications than the other access choices,patients who have a working fistula are able to "re-start" hemodialysis aftera failed transplant without any additional surgery because their access isalready in place.
About DaVita Inc.
DaVita Inc., a FORTUNE 500(R) company, is one of the largest providers ofdialysis services in the United States, providing dialysis services for thosediagnosed with chronic kidney failure and disease. DaVita, located in42 states and the District of Columbia, manages over 1,300 outpatient centersand acute units in over 800 hospitals serving approximately 100,000 patients.For more information please visit http://www.DaVita.com.
SOURCE DaVita Inc.
